Gundam Build Fighters P
by Sleeves
Summary: Follow the story of Caster and his team work their way up the Philippine Gunpla Battle National Championship!
1. Test Run

Phase 1: "Test Run"

"Gunpla Battle Combat mode! Start-up! Model damage set to C," the Gunpla Battle projector lighted up and started releasing plavsky particles upwards.

"Please set your GP Base," the two silhouettes from opposite sides placed their bases at the console before them. Light then came from below the two figures and encased them in a hexagonal light.

"Please set your gunpla,"the voice from the projector continued.

"Field 8, Sky" The plavsky particles then started to grow brighter and brighter until it revealed the clumps of landmasses hovering above the clouds.

"Battle, Start!"

"Ardent Gundam, commencing practice run!" Joesph exclaimed while his Gunpla, the Ardent launched off to the field.

 _The Ardent Gundam, a custom built Gunpla made by Joseph is composed of AGE parts and 00 parts. The head unit was taken from the Exia, the torso and backpack was taken from the 00 Qan[T], giving it the ability of Trans-AM, Quantize and the use of GN Sword Bits, interrupting the upper body of 00 parts was the waist part of AGE-FX which held C-Funnels. The Arms was taken from the AGE-FX which also held C-Funnels and lastly, the Leg unit was taken from the 00 Gundam Seven Swords, which possesses Katars on each knee. It was a straight built kitbash with slight modifications, but was coated with gloss coating which gives it an Anti-Beam Coating capable of taking 5 direct hits from beam weaponry._

"Get the feel of your Gunpla first before we commence the real practice." The other person opposite to Joseph said.

"Right, articulation, check, mobility, check, everything's good, system all green."

"We'll see about that later in the real practice match, here I come!"

A beam almost grazed the Ardent, startled Joseph maneuvered his gunpla in a zigzag motion while scouting around. Another shot was heading towards the Ardent but missed, "So that's where you are!" The Ardent boosted towards the direction where the beam was fired, seconds after another beam was fired in the same direction.

"That won't work thrice!" The beam was closing in and at the last second the Ardent dodged it, but Joseph didn't notice the beam sprays that accompanied the larger beam that he dodged resulting for the Ardent to be damaged slightly. "Curses!" Joseph shrieked,

"Always look at the bigger picture cousin."

The Ardent drifted away a few meters then resumed to pursue in the same direction heading straight back at the beam sprays, Joseph doubled the Ardent's speed whilst dodging the beams.

"I'll close the gap with this, scatter! Sword Bits!" The sword bits detached from the GN Shield behind the Ardent and flew in front defending the Ardent from the beam sprays that might hit the mobile suit. As the Ardent gets closer to where the beams are being fired from, Joseph was beginning to see a silhouette of three floating shields that glows dim green resembling the RX-0 Unicorn's Psychoframes.

"A shield Funnel?!" Joseph exclaimed "Hey that's cheating! That's the Unicorn right? This is an unbalanced fight!" Joseph's guess was right, the Unicorn flew upwards behind a huge rock and showed itself.

"No it ain't couz' this is just a straight built Gunpla, it doesn't hold any special gimmick unlike your custom Built Ardent, well except for the Shield Funnels plus c'mon you got GN Sword Bits, and I didn't forget about that C-Funnels you added , I guess 3 shield funnels wouldn't be enough for the Ardent in a real match."

"That has NT-D you hack!"

"Well it's in Perma-NT-D 'cause I built it in Destroy mode already."

"Get on the fight already brother! We're collecting data remember? Plus I need to finish my homework so hurry the fuck up." Charlie shouted to his brother Joseph while threatening him of cutting the connection from the Control Panel of the projector to her laptop.

"Oh, yes, right! Totes forgot."

"Stop with that lingo you're a grown ass man already." Charlie scolded Joseph.

"Right, right. Well here we go, fly! C-Funnels, Defensive formation!"

The C-Funnels flew from the Ardent and formed a protective circle enveloping the mobile suit.

"GN Sword Bits, switch, attack mode!"

Sure enough the Sword bits flew straight to the Unicorn. The shield funnels reacted and flew back to the Unicorn protecting it from the sword bits.

" _This'll take forever if I don't shake things up, the reaction time of those shield funnels are above average_ ," Joseph thought to himself but snapped out of it when he saw the shield funnels form the "high output gate" for the beam magnum shot.

"Oh no you won't! Let's add the C-Funnels in the mix!" The C-Funnels broke formation and flew towards the Shield Funnels targeting the magazine storage of the beam Gatling behind Shield Funnels.

" _Tss_ , Funnels are hassle to fight against."

"Shit! I forgot!"

A wave of energy came out of the Unicorn hitting the funnels and sword bits rendering them immobile for a few seconds before the Unicorn took control of the Funnels and bits.

"Looks like I got careless."

The funnels and bits, now controlled by the Unicorn, rushed back to the Ardent. Joseph maneuvered the Ardent with ease dodging the onslaught of funnels and bits.

" _I can't continue like this,_ " lost in thought, Joseph didn't notice a beam shot he's heading towards to, thankfully it only grazed the Ardent on its left shoulder causing Joseph to snap back into the action.

"This is bad; I shouldn't have told you what I was supposed to gather data on."

"Even if you didn't I still would've known, that's the only custom build you've finished recently."

"I guess you're kinda right."

"This is bad, at this rate your Ardent won't survive the onslaught of whatever those homing things are called." Charlie cut in.

"You're right. I didn't imagine this'll happen, dang, looks like I have to do that, _tsk_." Joseph clicked a button in the controls that opens a holographic keyboard in front of him he then quickly punched the emergency command that he installed in the unit.

"I never thought I'd use the override in a practice match," Joseph whispered in pain, "Shut down!"

The funnels and bits paused from the onslaught and started falling.

"Huh, an emergency shutdown, I'd never think of that. Well, I'm impressed, you really are a versatile tactician, planning ahead."  
"It's a failsafe program, no need to be impressed, now let's get on it again."

"I still outnumber you, 4 is to 1 in this battle."

"Mind if I close in the gap?" Joseph clicked another button in the controls and proceeded to switch to the last setting of the Ardent's System Feature.

"Try!" The person on the other side bellowed.

The Ardent started giving off a dim glow of pink and red.

"So you coded that in huh."

"No, it's an inert ability of the Ardent, plus the fun's not yet started." Joseph gained a slight boost of confidence from his tone.

The Ardent then shifted from the pink and red glow to lightning blue, the alternating colors enveloped the Ardent.

"Now for my flashy ability," Joseph paused, "Trans-FX Burst!"

The Ardent glowed pink and red with bursts of lightning blue on the slots where the Funnels and bits were supposed to be placed. Sensing the threat of the Ardent, the Shield Funnels circled around the Unicorn.

"You better be getting the data from this fight Charlie." Joseph smirked.

The Ardent moved in blinding speed towards the Unicorn closing the gap really fast, the Unicorn gestured the Shield Funnels to attack the Ardent while moving away from it.

The Shield Funnels moved indiscriminately while firing at the Ardent, but the Ardent used its other quirk, Quantize, phasing through the assault of the Shield Funnels. The Ardent then detached the Katars at the side of its knees so it can be equipped on the hands. The Ardent then quantized and sliced through the onslaught of the 3 Shield Funnels, getting closer to the Unicorn.

The Unicorn then changed its direction of movement towards the Ardent, closing in, the psychoframes started to glow stronger. The Unicorn then threw the beam magnum away and equipped its beam saber.

The two suits' closing in at each other, Joseph's hands are getting sweaty and shaky but his grip is unyieldingly firm on the controls.

Clash!

The two suits clashed, crossing swords against each other spinning around then pushing each other away only to give themselves a boost back in to clashing swords. The dogfight continued for four times before the Unicorn broke away and started zoom out of the clash as if running away.

"I won't let you escape!" Joseph pressed on the chase with the Unicorn, using the floating landmasses as boosts to catch up to the Unicorn quickly.

The two suits moved in unbelievable speed, leaving trails of green and the combination of red and blue streams of light clashing from time to time.

"This is awesome, it's like watching dragon ball but with mechas." Charlie whispered.

The Ardent is closing in the Unicorn, but the Unicorn stopped suddenly and twisted behind in a counter-clockwise motion with its right hand extended outward while holding the beam saber as if anticipating hitting the Ardent. The Ardent surely went straight to it then quantized through the beam saber, but after the Ardent phased through the saber, another beam saber pierced through the Ardent in body rendering it to revert back to its original state and causing the suit to be immobile.

"What?"

"Game over, cousin."

The Unicorn equipped its beam tonfa and maxed out its beam output for maximum damage, picking up speed towards the Ardent. After a few moments, the Unicorn dashed towards the Ardent and sliced through it ending the battle.

"Battle Ended" The voice from the projector exclaimed.

The projector powered down, the light from the projector slowly dimmed, the plavsky particles that encased the projector and the users were dispersing, rendering the Gunplas immobile making it just a normal plastic model and the controls to disappear. Joseph was still stunned of what transpired on the match.

"Wh-what? What happened?"

"You brother dear have been blindsided," Charlie told Joseph, unplugging the connector from the Control Panel of the projector to her laptop and clapped her hands to turn on the lights in the room.

"Is there a playback on the collected data?" Joseph asked, "I wanna see what happened, it was all too sudden."

"Yeah there's a file, I'll put it up on the screen."

Charlie opened the video file and fast forwarded it to the scene when it happened. The three huddled together at the laptop.

 _The Unicorn stopped suddenly and twisted behind in a counter-clockwise motion with its right hand extended outward while holding the beam saber as if anticipating hitting the Ardent. The Ardent surely went straight to it then quantized through the beam saber, but after the Ardent phased through the saber, t_ he Unicorn then followed up the attack by throwing its beam saber on its left hand to where it anticipated the Ardent to show up, and sure enough, the Ardent got pierced.

"That's what happened brother."

"That was pure luck though, I acted out of instinct."

"You're a real newtype Caster," Joseph exclaimed to Caster, the pilot behind the Unicorn, "Our _Red Comet,"_ Joseph patted him at the back.

"Oh I wish," Caster sighed, "but that title's already taken."

"Then make your own," Charlie suggested,"I've saved the collected data on your hard drive brother."

"nice, thanks," Joseph gave Charlie a thumbs up.

"Now back to my homework. I'll be heading upstairs now." Charlie collected her things and proceeded outside the room and went upstairs before Joseph can even nod.

"Charlie's right, why not make your own title?"

"Well, suggest one, I'm not good with the title department after all."

"Well, why not," Joseph closed his eyes and thought up of a title for Caster.

"We'll worry about that someday," Caster laughed the idea off, "after all, I still need to build up reputation."

"True," Joseph agreed. Caster then turned back to the projector.

"Well, for now, let's fix your Ardent and tweak it," Caster suggested while holding up the Ardent.

"Good idea, I'll go collect the suits, you prep up everything else upstairs."

"Roger that." Caster placed the Ardent back on top of the projector beside the Unicorn.

"Grab the hard drive while you're at it and boot up the computer upstairs." Joseph added.

"Already on it." Caster replied and grabbed the hard drive beside him. Caster headed outside but was interrupted by a small figure that busted through the door.

"Am I in time?!" the short figure shouted.

"No, you aren't, we're just cleaning up now, but you can watch the match later upstairs on the tv," Joseph replied.

"Dang, I'm late, if mum just didn't order me-."

"Chill out Ray, you startled me there," Caster cut in, "anyway I'll be heading upstairs first."

"Sure, I'll be heading up shortly , wanna join in Ray?"

"Oh hell yes, I wanna watch what happened earlier, plus I ain't done with my custom yet." Ray answered with excitement.

"Cool, the let's head upstairs after I finish up here. Speaking of custom," Joseph turned to where Caster was, "Cas- oh, he's upstairs already."

"What is it couz?" Ray asked.

"Nothing, I just wanted to ask if Caster's thinking of making his own custom, I've seen him build straight builds and overall he's in this business longer than me, his older cousin." Joseph paused.

"True, I've never heard him speak about a full custom yet." Ray agreed.

"We can all agree that he's the best in our family when it comes to gunpla, but I've never seen him making his own custom, yeah he did say he has ideas and wanted to work on them, but he hasn't made those into realities yet."

"Peculiar ain't it?"

"I'll ask him later, let's head upstairs at the workstation now, I'm finished here." Joseph ended the topic and proceeded to place the Ardent and the Unicorn in a toolbox.

"Alright!" Ray exclaimed.

-Prologue end-


	2. Meijin

Phase 2: Meijin

Ray opened the door revealing a spacious room filled with materials needed for gunpla building.

"The monitor's set, you can watch the match now, I'll just prep up the paint station." Caster continued prepping up the station while Ray went to the big monitor at the side of the door followed by Joseph heading straight to the computer set at the other end of the room.

"How 'bout the data?" Joseph asked

"The computer's booting up already it'll be ready in seconds-" Caster was interrupted by a beeping noise and a start up sound.

"Oh there it is, I'll head over there and code while fixing the Ardent."

"Ten-four," the three scattered around the room, Caster was prepping up the stations at the right side of the room, Joseph placed the toolbox on top of the table right beside the desktop computer and opened it to get the Ardent and place it on top of the GP Base connected to the computer to code in some data, meanwhile, Ray eagerly watched the replay on the television.

\- / -

"Oh dang that was pure awesomeness!" Ray exclaimed while watching the replay, "I want to experience that thrill too."

"Oh you will," Caster answered, "if you finish your custom we'll test run it too."

"I'm halfway done with the Gold Frame R Custom I just need to paint it up."

"The station's prepped up for painting, you can use it now, just ask me if you have any problems."

"Yeah sure, but I think I got the gist of it when you and I first did a trial on my 2nd kit, so I guess I'll be fine without any help," Ray replied with two thumbs up.

"Well then good luck, I'll just be in our room," Caster then went inside their room located at the left side of the room near the entrance.

"What are you gon' do in there?" Joseph asked.

"I dunno, stuff?" Caster jokingly replied, "but no seriously, I need sleep, these past few days of school got me drained like hell," he continued.

"Oh ok sure, you go rest."

"Thanks."

\- / -

*It's High noon*

Caster shot right up from the bed making him feel unbalanced and dizzy but regains his zen after a few moments, he stretched out his arms up and warmed up for awhile before turning to where the sound is coming from.

*it's High noon*

The alarm went off for the 7th time, Caster groans and reaches out to turn off the alarm from his cellphone.

A faint light creeps into the room as Caster opens the door into their living room/work area.

"How long have I been out?"

"About two hours," Joseph replied, "oh, and dinner's almost ready, the two ladies just got back from work and brought some foods for us, Ray's helping 'em set the table up."

"Charlie and RC?"

"Yeah, my sister and Ray's sister, who else? C'mon you've been living with us, your cousins, for the past 2 years of your college life, you sure you had your sleep right?"

"wasn't Charlie in her room?'

"She went out to meet RC and bought food from Jollibee so she wouldn't worry about her shift for cooking."

"Nice, we better get going then."

Joseph nodded and proceeded to place the computer into sleep mode.

"I'll be joining you guys shortly, I'll just fix this mess beside the comp."

"Don't take too long or I'll eat your share," Joseph scoffed and continued to clean up the table beside the computer while Caster went downstairs.

\- / -

"Thanks for the meal~" Caster and Ray cheered as the 5 began to eat dinner.

"That reminds me," Ray shot up, "how come you don't bring food when you come home Joseph?"

"Well that's because-"

"He's a cheap ass motherfucker," Caster cut him off.

"I can totally agree on that one," Charlie, Joseph's younger sister, supported Caster on that call.

"Oh c'mon guys, I'm the one paying for this house right?" Joseph butted in.

"We also share on the bills cousin," RC, the older sister of Ray, joined the conversation and laughter filled the dining room.

"That reminds me, how early did you get home today?" Charlie asked Joseph.

"I got out of the office around 2 and got home after 30 minutes, and yeah, after changing clothes I called you downstairs to gather data."

"That was fast, I'm guessing you didn't go to the mall today."

"Well surprisingly, yeah I didn't."

"On the matter of going to the mall, I received some kind of pamphlet, well actually it was given to RC by a salesman, I'll give it to you guys after the meal."

\- / -

"Holy shit," Ray blurted out, "No way, an exhibition match of the Meijin here?!"

"I knew its gotta do something about your hobby, so I held unto it, RC was planning to throw it away."

"Thanks," Caster replied.

"Gotchu fam." The group proceeded upstairs, the two girls went straight to their room while the three boys sat around the center table where they usually build.

"Hey look, it says it's free admission and you can fight the Meijin in a 1v1 gunpla battle."

"That's pretty cool, it's also convenient 'cause we're near the mall it's going to be held at, plus it's a Sunday," Joseph said as if he already laid out a plan for the event, "it's a rare chance to meet the Meijin, let's check it out."

Caster and Ray agreed with the idea.

"Well it also says here that he'll be having a 2 hour Q-n-A first then another 2 hours for the exhibition match with whoever has the balls to fight him, after that it's the closing ceremony."

"Sounds like fun!" Ray exclaimed, "I wanna try and fight him!"

"Are you sure about that?" Caster interjected, "he's the Meijin after all, the 3rd Meijin to be exact, they say he's better than the 1st and 2nd combined."

"Well we'll see this Sunday then," Ray grabbed his newly painted build, his eyes burning with excitement, "we'll see if it's true!"

"He's too excited, he probably didn't even hear you," Joseph humored.

"Well, anyway, did it say anything about the gunpla battle requirements?"

"Nope," Joseph said as he scanned the pamphlet, "I'm guessing you can enter with anything."

"OH, is it time you'll show us your own custom built gunpla?!" Ray snapped out of his excitement from the exhibition match and shifted to curiosity.

"What?"

"You do have one right?"

"No?"

"What? You don't have one?!" Ray got baffled.

"Yes? I don't have an original custom. I have just straight built and modded a little, heck you won't even see the mods in my build so it's pretty much just straight builds my whole life."

"But don't you have ideas? You've been taking notes right? Blueprints and such." Joseph butted in.

"Yeah, I do, but heck, I don't have time, maybe this summer."

"Yo, who the heck are you kiddin' it's already your summer," Ray grew quite annoyed about the idea that Caster still don't have his own custom.

"Technically I still have classes for around 3 more days, but I can just skip those 'cause it's already the end and we're actually not doing anything at school, yeah, maybe one of these days."

"Anyways, let's all head to our beds, it's around 11 already," Joseph yawned.

"Alright then, you guys sleep now, I have something to check out first," Caster said as took his laptop from his bag beside the couch and opened it.

"What are you going to do?" Ray asked Caster whilst halfway through the door to the bedroom.

"I'm gonna check my grades, it's been released in my school's site."

"Welp, g'night then."

"Good night guys."

\- _z z z_ -

11:45 P.M.

Four incandescent light bulbs fixed within the ceiling's corners provided light for Caster while he sat at the sofa still on his laptop.

"Hmmm, so this is the third Meijin, real name Tatsuya Yuuki. He looks formidable."

Caster continues to scroll through the website and found a video about the 3rd Meijin's practice run against 5 people, titled, Meijin Kawaguchi III vs. Yajima Corporation's top 5. Without any second thoughts, Caster clicked the video.

- _video plays_ -

 ** _BATTLE START!_**

 _A red streak can be seen zooming into the center of the destroyed colony stage from the left side faster than the other 5 suits that are entering through the other side._

 _The video cuts to a closer look at both the Meijin's gunpla and the 5 other gunplas, the camera can barely keep up with the Meijin's suit._

 _The video then shows the statistics of the units, showing the Mejin's gunpla first._

\- / -

"Amazing Red Warrior. It looks simple, but those stats are way too OP." Caster thought to himself.

\- / -

 _The video cuts to the action as the Red Warrior dodges every projectile and beam the other five suits throw unto it. The suit then begins to close in to one of the five suits that resemble a custom fitted Nataku._

 _The Nataku launches it's dragon fangs at the Red Warrior and also zoomed to the suit, the Red Warrior dodges the flurry and manages to boost itself away and unto the other four suits by stepping and using the Nataku as some sort of jump pad._

 _The Red Warrior the zooms away from the Nataku and readies it's gunblade as it get's closer to the other suits. The Nataku was able to realign itself and launches another dragon fang flurry accompanied by projectiles by the other four suits surrounding the Red Warrior. unfazed, the Red Warrior continues to boost around and still manages to hit them with minimal calculated shots._

 _The battle felt stale as the Red Warrior played defensively against the 5 suits._

\- / -

"I would also probably play defensively against all these-" and as Caster was talking to himself, he was cut off by the sudden movement of the Red Warrior.

\- / -

 _The Amazing Red Warrior rushed into the 5 suits whilst dodging every projectile that passes by it, barely grazing it's shiny coating._

 _A faint shout can be heard commanding the 5 suits to switch to sabers. The 5 suits rushed in to intercept the Red Warrior while returning fire and switching to CQC beam weapons._

 _As the units grew closer to clashing the Red Warrior abruptly stopped and aimed it's hyper bazooka to the 5 suits. Realizing that the Red Warrior was aiming at them the 5 units scattered, but was too late, 2 units were damaged._

 _The custom built Zaku II lost control over it's right arm and a damaged mono eye and it's second visual processor located at the right chest. The custom built space type Alex Gundam's Chobam Armor was no match for the bazooka, it drilled through the armor, crushing the whole torso of the Alex. The other 3 suits got lucky that they only got some grazes._

 _A minor pause of astonishment got through the surviving suits but they continued their onslaught against the Red Warrior after a few seconds. The custom built Zaku II stayed back for awhile and deployed a small repair unit to repair it's functionality as the others took care of the Red Warrior._

 _The Red warrior switched into CQC as it zooms in the remaining 3 suits. The 3 units anticipated an attack but was met with a graceful dodge from the Red Warrior. The 3 units tried to catch up to the Red Warrior but it was just too fast. The Red Warrior zooms in to the Zaku II._

 _The Red Warrior slices the repair unit and pins the Zaku II at a nearby large debris and fires it's vulcans simultaneously in an incredible speed, leaving a dent in the debris that's supposed to hold the beaten up suit. After shooting it's vulcans, the Red Warrior once again zooms into another target._

 _The 3 remaining units huddled together while firing at the Red Warrior as if fearing they will be the next. The Red Warrior easily dodges the spam of projectiles as it boosts its way to the 3 units._

 _As the Red Warrior got closer while dodging the suppressing fire it's receiving, it finally closed the gap and stabs the suit in the middle, an AGE-3 Graft, and swivels to the left, kicking the Nataku and then another other suit, a custom fitted Stark Jegan. It then finishes off the AGE-3 by slicing it horizontally and closes into the Nataku crippling it by blowing off it's head and slicing it's appendages. The Stark Jegan manages to re-orient itself and fire a missile but the Red Warrior shot a bullet that penetrated through it and unto the Jegan's missile holder making it explode. Luckily the Jegan managed to detach the holder and only suffered minor damages from theexplosion, but the Red Warrior was not yet finished. It closed into the Jegan once again and readies it's gunblade, and as it closed in, the Jegan deployed dummies around it, halting the Red Warrior._

 _The Red Warrior stood still and lowered it's weapon as it scanned around as the dummies surround it. Everything went silent for a moment until it was broken by the sound of a beam saber deployed._

 _The Stark Jegan rushes in from behind ready to stab the Red Warrior, it saw the oppurtunity and grabbed it, but the Red Warrior proved that it's untouchable by dodging at the last moment, sending the Jegan crashing too it's baloon dummies. The Red Warrior swiftly shot 3 bullets with it's gunblade at the Jegan before it disappears again from the dummies. The bullets pierced through the dummies and through the Jegan's head and chest, disabling it from further action._

- ** _BATTLE ENDED_** -

- _video ends_ -

And just like that it's over within 2 minutes. Caster was still in awe from what he saw.

"PF-78-3A, a custom built PF-78-3 Perfect Gundam III fitted and tuned for the 3rd Meijin's use," and with those words a spark of inspiration went through Caster's head, "yeah, I could also use my own creation, something I can call my own." Eager to finally create a custom, Caster clicked on one of his folders that contained blueprints of his supposedly customs and printed 3 of files.

Jumping out of the sofa, Caster went straight to the worktable while also grabbing the printed files. Caster shone some light from his cellphone and scanned the boxes placed at the huge shelf near the worktable. He opened and took out some boxes and placed it the table.

"I hope we still have spares of these suits, ah there it is! Aile, Duel, RG Skygrasper, IWSP, Rezel, nice, I got the basic components for the first one."

Caster took out another box and placed it on the table.

"Kshat', Sazabi, this one too, everything's going smoothly huh."

"What are you up to hmm?" A voice startled Caster sending him crashing down to the floor with a box full of runners.

"whoops, sorry, did I scare ya?" Joseph switched on the lights for the Workstation and illuminated the right side of the room.

"well kind of," Caster struggled getting up, "but yeah as you can see, I'm checking these kits out-"

"The kits you bought but didn't build way back last year... Wait-"

"Yes."

"No way, you're creating one now?"

"No!"

"Wait, what? I'm confused?"

"Well, not today, maybe tomorrow, I'm just checking if I still have them in the shelf or if I accidentally built them already."

"What's wrong if you already built them?"

"Well chances are I already detailed it up and modded the heck out of it and I don't want to tear it up apart again 'cause it'll be a waste of time and art."

"You got a point there, well, what's the state of the gunplas you need?"

"Fully unbuilt, still freshly sealed in their runners."

"Nice, when are you going to start then?"

"Well I still have classes tomorrow, but I can get home early, I'll just tell my adviser that I'll be leaving early and won't be coming to school for the last 2 days, nothing's going on in school now except for completion, and I'm pretty sure I completed everything that needs to be submitted."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Joseph agreed.

"Welp, I'm gonna be busy for the next few days."


	3. Blitz

Phase 3: Blitz

"Dear god, that's one hell of a line," Ray exclaimed as he looked at the waiting line's end that supposedly start from the second floor and ends at the first floor, "I hope they can accommodate this many, 'cause if it gets cut off I'm gonna be super pissed."

"They probably anticipated the crowd to be more than this, so I bet they got the biggest hall in HMX," Joseph said reassuringly as they waited in line,"anyway, you did bring your gunplas right?"

"Yep got mine right here," Ray opened his sling bag and brought out a box labelled 'Skeletal Frame' with masking tape.

"How 'bout you Caster?"

"I, uh, I got it here," Caster brought out a snap fitted Strike Gundam."

"Wait, what? I thought you brought your custom?" Joseph and Ray was visibly confused as Caster placed it back in his bag, "does it have any gimmick or something? Jesus, you didn't even panel line it, it's like super clean maybe Mr. Clean built it," Joseph can be clearly seen stressing sarcastically about Caster's gunpla while Caster and Ray was laughing.

As the three were busy talking, Ray noticed a security personnel telling the people in line to move inside the hall.

"Well! Here we go, they're telling the people to get inside now. We're gonna meet the Meijin and go against him, this is going to be fun!" Ray shouted in excitement. The group then followed the people in front of them.

"So, returning to our discussion, why? Why is it just a snap fit?" Joseph asked Caster again, "surely you do have some tricks in it right?"

"None," Caster replied sternly.

"No gimmicks or whatever?" Ray butted in as they get nearer to the hall.

"I just snap fitted it, nub and seam line removal, added articulation, painted the eyes and top coated with gloss, and that's all."

"Did you code anything else besides the inert abilities of the Strike?" Joseph asked again. Caster closed his eyes and raised his left eyebrow as if thinking hard."

"I just placed a data gathering mod in it, the rest's inert, Hard points for backpacks and the Phase Shift."

"That is quite risky specially if you're up against the GOD of gunpla battles," Ray interjected.

"Anyway's we're inside the hall now, let's go look for a chair shall we?" Caster and Ray agreed to what Joseph said and went to find a good place to sit. Fortunately they found a place quite near the stage and decided to sit there for the Q-n-A.

-/-

"Please welcome, Meijin Kawaguchi III!" a presenter exclaimed as the Meijin entered the stage while the audience clapped.

"Wow, he sure is stylish," Ray whispered as he stared at the Meijin.

"His clothes aren't practical for our weather though," Joseph replied as he examined what the Meijin wore, a long midnight blue coat partnered with his signature shades, "well I guess the shades can go pretty well with our weather but the co-" Joseph was interrupted by a nudge from Caster, "what? I'm just saying."

The Meijin was followed by other guests from Yajima Corporation. They sat down behind a long table on the stage meant for the panelists accompanying him.

"Who are the other guys?" Ray asked Caster as he stared at the other panelists beside the Meijin.

"They're from Yajima Trading, the company that bought PPSE's interest on Plavsky Particles and the whole Gunpla Battle scene."

"Whatever that is, it sounds complicated," Ray murmured.

"We'll now be conducting the question and answer portion, the audience may raise their hands to ask questions for our panelists today namely the Meijin together with the Nielsen Labs engineers and Yajima Trading Director, Carolina Yajima."

"Well, I guess I'll be on my 2DS for awhile," Ray took out his 2DS and switched it on to play Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate. "tell me if it's the exhibition match already."

"Aren't you going to listen to the panelists?" Joseph seemed annoyed by the fact that Ray opened his 2DS, which for him, feels disrespectful.

"Nah, I'm good, I can multi-task, I can listen to them while playin', my mum's ears-plitting commands trained me for these kinds of instances remember?" the three snickered at the thought of Ray's mum shouting at him or his sister, RC.

"Welp, aight, whatever," Joseph shrugged.

Meanwhile, the audience are already asking the panelists, specially the Meijin. One of the audience asked the Meijin if he'll be using the Amazing Red Warrior during the exhibition match to which the Meijin replied with a stern yes that made the crowd pretty jumpy.

"Heard that?" Caster whispered.

"Yep, loud and clear," Joseph replied, "I think the simulations I created around the Red Warrior from the videos of it's past matches can give us a slight advantage against it."

"Guess so," Ray butted in, "I tried the simulations and worked my strategies around it, I think I have above average fighting chance now." Ray switched off his 2DS as he finished the hunt in game and started to join the conversation between Caster and Joseph.

"But that's against a simulation, you're up against the real deal now, plus we haven't really wrapped around the capabilities of your Skeletal Frame, as far as I'm concerned, you haven't grasped it's full potential yet," Caster deduced.

"I can take care of my own, I'll give him a good fight!" Ray's eyes glowed with excitement as if not hearing whatever Caster just said awhile ago. Caster sighed and shrugged as if he was defeated while Joseph smirked.

"I know Ray can take care of himself but how about you Caster? What's your plan against him with your snapfitted Strike?" Joseph raised his right eyebrow.

"Gather data, that's it."

"That's... it?"

"I didn't really think my plan through yeah, as far as I planned it, I'll launch the Strike fitted with Aile pack, power up the the data gathering OS and fight the Meijin."

"It has no other special features except it's inert features." Joseph added.

"Yep, nothing, just the PSA and the hard points." Caster nodded.

"Well you're in for a ride then," Joseph sighed.

"Though after this year's international tournament, I'll be retiring the ARW," the Meijin added, "subsequently, the engineers and I in PPSE are working to create a new model for me to be used in next year's tournament."

After the Meijin answered the question, another question was raised from the audience.

"Are the rumors true? A new Gunpla Battle projector will be used?"

"It's not just the projector, but also the GP Base, it's an update in the OS," Yajima Trading's Director, Carolina answered enthusiastically, "the new update let's you modify a lot of things. From the color emitted by your GP Base's screens, to the style of your cockpit, in fact, everyone's GP Base's can update it in this hall thanks to Nielsen Labs' support, go ahead and try it!"

Everyone in the room took out their GP Bases and switched it on to update it.

"You can try the updated GP Bases at the provided projectors in the next hall, also if you have Projectors at your place you can hook it up your network and download the update through the internet, it's all free!" Carolina added.

-/-

After a few more questions from the audience the presenter announced a 30 minute break before continuing to the event. The panelists exited backstage while the audience scrambled across the hall, some went near the backstage to get an autograph from the Meijin or from Carolina,some went to the next hall to check the new update or duke it out with friends or random people in the provided Gunpla Battle projectors.

"Well, what are we gonna do now?" Caster turned to Joseph as they got up their seats.

"I'm thinking of getting food first then get back here," as Joseph and Caster thought of what they'll do next, the two did not noticing Ray as he went to the next hall to try out the update and battle with his gunpla.

"So what do yo-" Caster turned around to ask Ray, but Ray was already by the huge door leading to the other hall, "ahh shit, Ray's already at the projectors."

"Well, what did we expect right," Joseph laughed, "anyway, I'll go get some food first for the three of us, what do you want?"

"Well anything actually, maybe just get us some Jamaican patties, then after the event, we'll eat dinner, sound good?" Caster suggested.

"Sounds good, I'll meet both of you inside the next hall then?"

"Yep, well Ray's already there, catch you later with the grub."

"Aight."

The two then split up, Caster hurriedly went to where Ray is while Joseph went outside to get food.

-/-

The second hall was illuminated by multiple projectors on the ground floor, each having a battle ongoing whether it was a 1v1, a team match, or a royal rumble. Caster was watching over the second floor, taking notes of some gunplas and individuals that piqued his interest in his pocket notebook while also watching over the match Ray was participating in.

"There's a lot of crazy custom builds out there, formidable one's too," Caster whispered to himself. He then shifted to where Ray is and began to watch Ray's 1v1 match with a random stranger, "so how is Ray- damn, he sure does know how to handle his custom."

 _-3 minutes ago-_

"Does anyone want to have a 1v1 practice match?" yelled a random stranger in the second hall, a lot of other people noticed it and some accepted it, Ray was also in the crowd.

"I volunteer!" Ray, being quite small, jumped high and yelled back as loud as he could because the crowd surrounding him was a bunch of taller people than him, the crowd around him parted like the Red Sea towards the projector. Feeling quite embarrassed, he looked behind then front then pointed at himself.

"Yeah, you kid! I like your enthusiasm, come up here!" the stranger called out to Ray. Feeling excited, Ray ran up to the projector as the crowd cheered him up.

" _Man this is nice!_ " Ray thought to himself.

"Nice to meet you-?" the stranger lent out his hand to Ray for a handshake.

"The name's Ray!" Ray shook the stranger's hand firmly.

"Ray! nice to meet you, I'm Ramses, Ram for short," the man introduced himself. Ramses has a healthy body that you can mistake him for a fitness trainer but he was quite young.

"Nice to meet you too!" Ray replied, feeling more excited than ever to test out his custom gunpla in an actual fight and not in a simulation.

"Well that's enough formalities, let's jump in the projector and let our gunplas introduce us further," Ramses booted up the projector.

 **Gunpla Battle Combat mode! Start-up! Model damage set to C**

The two went on the opposite sides of the single hex projector.

 **Please set your GP Base**

Ray placed his GP base on the slot on the projector and took out the box containing his custom gunpla.

"Don't let me down my Amatsu," Ray whispered has he held his gunpla, the Skeletal Frame Amatsu.

The Skeletal Frame Amatsu, a custom built Gunpla built by Ray Ignacio with the help of Caster. Composed of RG and HG Seed and Thunderbolt series, the Skeletal Frame Amatsu strongly resembles the MBF-01 Gundam Astray Gold Frame Amatsu Perfect Form with the exception of it's color scheme and armaments. Swapping out it's "Trikeros Kai" Offensive Shield System with the Atlas' Blade Shield and placing a custom built spear version of the "Okitsu no Kagami" behind the MS's upper backskirt. Sporting out a new color scheme through changing the Gold innerframe with a Pearl White shine, replacing the shiny black armor with matte black with hints of gold where the red accents should've been. The Skeletal Frame Amatsu comes with an Enhanced Sensor, Mirage Colloid System and a Variable Phase Shift Armor coded by Caster from the basic PSA. The MS also has a new ability called Blitz System coded in by Ray which enables his MS to move in incredible speeds and deal punishing melee damage.

 **Please set your Gunpla**

Ray placed his Amatsu on the base. The Amatsu's eye camera glowed with a piercing blue light. Ray glanced over the opposing side and saw Ramses place his gunpla. _This is it!_ He thought to himself, _I'm gonna fight a real battle with my own gunpla!_

 **Field 02: Desert**

"This is it!" Ray can't contain the excitement in him as he grabbed the glowing orbs to control his gunpla. The Amatsu changed it's stance, ready to launch.

Battle Start!

"Ray Ignacio, Skeletal Frame Amatsu! COMMENCING LAUNCH!" The Amatsu catapulted to the stage at full speed. Ray maneuver's the Amatsu indiscriminately as if already dodging attacks even though there was none.

"What you say kid? Let's get this battle started?" A swift silver gunpla seemed to glide across the desert area towards the Amatsu. Ray moved the Amatsu closer to it ready to dodge any attack.

"Say hello to my custom built Gunpla! Nobell Dancer Custom!" the gunpla jumped towards the Amatsu extending it's double sided staff to pierce against the Amatsu's armor. The Amatsu dodged at the last second to the left and hovered over the stage, Ray squinted his eyes to identify his opponent's Mobile suit.

"It's... a Nobel?!" Ray exclaimed.

"Yeah it is!" Ramses replied while speeding towards the Amatsu again with it's staff ready.

The Nobel Dancer Custom, a custom built Nobel by Ramses Miguel. As the name suggest, the main MS is the Nobel Gundam with a MR-Q15A "Griffon" Beam Blade derived from the ∞ Justice attached to it's reinforced armor on the front of it's lower legs while having two slots of booster's behind each leg for added power when it kicks or simply just for maneuvering. Ditching it's Beam Ribbon, the Dancer Custom uses a double sided beam javelin with boosters on each end, the javelin can both be used for maneuverability and for offensive purposes. The Nobel sports a shiny silver mirror finish almost reflecting it's surroundings, making it almost hard to see.

The Nobel darts toward the Amatsu. Ray clicked on a switch and chose an option infront of his control panel, The Amatsu then grabbed the modified harpoon spear and deflected the Nobel's attack.

The Nobel hovered backwards indiscriminately while the Amatsu closed in to the Nobel.

"My turn now!" Ray shouted as he doubled the Amatsu's speed towards the Nobel, ready to attack.

The Amatsu closes in, The Nobel stabs the ground halting it's movement. Ray geared his Amatsu to stab the Nobel, but the Nobel dodges at the last second using it's Beam Javelin as a pole. The Nobel vaults over the Amatsu like a gymnast ready to use it's beam blades attached to it's lower legs. The Amatsu's back is wide open. The Nobel shift's its stance to a kick, it's right leg's beam blade glowed firecely as the booster gave it more speed.

 **CLASH**

The Amatsu countered it with it's Energy Absorption Claws installed as it's backpack. The Claws pinned the Nobel's Right leg before it damages the Amatsu while also draining the Nobel's battery absorbing the energy for the Amatsu.

"Whew, that was close," Ray sighed, "damn, your Nobel is exceptional! It reminds me of the insect glaive users from the Monster Hunter Game!"

"Thanks! I'm actually a gymnast," Ramses replied, "I wanted my Gunpla to reflect my other hobby, but hey, let's focus on the match shall we?"

The Nobel stabbed the Amatsu's right Claw/Wing while Ray strengthened his grip on the controls as the Amatsu's Claw/Wing crushes the Nobel's leg. Fortunately for the Nobel, the right Claw/Wing lost it's grip because of it's sustained damage from the javelin, the Nobel then twisted it's right leg and sliced through the damaged Claw with it's beam blade. An audible shit was heard from Ray as the Nobel hovers away from the Amatsu.

Both suits hovered away from each other within few moments to inspect the damages dealt from the battle. The Amatsu lost it's left claw/wing while the Nobel's armor on it's right leg was visibly crushed.

"The force wasn't enough, damnit," Ray growled, he then geared his Amatsu towards the Nobel once again, the Nobel replies with a vault and dash towards the it too.

The two suits clashed weapons, the Nobel backed away after a few seconds as Ramses figured that the Amatsu outclasses the Nobel in terms of power in the upper body for the Nobel relies on it's lower body for offensive purposes. The Amatsu uses it's harpoons installed in the claws ("Magashira no Hoko" Harpoons) as a follow up attack to the Nobel, but the Nobel dodges the two harpoons easily with it's slender body. The harpoons get stuck on a nearby rock formation, the Amatsu closes in once again, the Amatsu then pulls itself towards the harpoons and the Nobel. The Nobel vaults over once again and dodges the Amatsu's attack. Ray maneuvers his Amatsu sideways and retracts the harpoons as the Amatsu's feet slams on the rock formation, he then used the rock formation as a jump pad towards the Nobel once again.

 _:On the second floor:_

"He sure does know how to handle his custom," Caster whispered to himself as he watched Ray's battle.

"Yep he does," Joseph sat down beside Caster and handed him a pattie, "he trained hard these past few days on the simulations I made," Joseph added as he opened a pack and started to eat.

"You going to to join in?" Joseph asked Caster as they ate.

"I'll finish up first then I'll join you guys," Caster replied as he took down notes and ate his first pattie.

 _:meanwhile:_

Ray is still locked in an intense battle with Ramses' Nobel. The battle was considered as a stalemate, with both suits dodging and deflecting each other's attacks.

" _This isn't going anywhere_ ," Ray thought to himself as he tried to think of an attack or even a counterattack that could end this stalemate. Ray got startled as the Amatsu got hit by the beam javelin thrown by the Nobel quickly followed up a high knee strike to outbalance the Amatsu. The Amatsu loses it's balanced and grip on it's weapon as it falls down on the desert with the pole stuck on it's right shoulder, subsequently, the Nobel jumps on top of the pole like a gymnast balancing on top of it. The pole digs deeper on the Amatsu's armor.

"Your VPSA can't handle this much pressure!" Ramses shouted.

"This is getting bad for the Amatsu," Caster whispered, "The Amatsu's pinned on the ground, he can't do much... Unless Ray-" Caster was cut off as he watched Ray activated the Blitz System.

"Unless he activates that," Caster smirked.

" **LET'S DO THIS!** " Ray roared as he activated the Blitz System. The Amatsu's inner pearl white frames glowed lightning blue as it's boosters on the back carries both the Amatsu and Nobel upward. Sensing the danger, Ramses withdraws his Nobel far from the Amatsu. The Amatsu then discards it's Blade Shield from it's right arm and grabs and breaks the javelin piercing it's right shoulder.

"Shall we?" Ray whispered as if talking to the Amatsu. The Amatsu's eyes glowed fiercely as it posed to throw the broken javelin, "I call this, the Blitz System!"

The Amatsu throws the broken javelin at the Nobel, but the Nobel dodges it and started to close in to the Amatsu. The Amatsu stood still hovering above the sands while the Nobel started to glow bright red as it gets near the Amatsu.

"Berserker System huh," Ray closed his eyes and calmed himself for a few seconds. The Amatsu's energy was slowly reaching critical it's point.

The Nobel transitioned from moving towards the Amatsu to a flying side kick. Moments before the Nobel comes in to contact with the Amatsu, Ray opened his eyes and maneuvered his suit to dodge at the last second. The Nobel misses the Amatsu, the Nobel plants it right leg on the ground for stable footing then proceeds to transition to a 360° side kick, swinging it's left leg towards the Amatsu. The Amatsu catches the kick with it's left hand, gripping it hard. Ramses then switches on the beam blade on the legs, but unfortunately the beams can't seem to operate.

"The Amatsu only have one flaw, it's energy seems to drop really fast, but thanks to the backpack, if it gets near an opponent, it drains the opponent's battery, no need to come in contact, but it sure does help if I get a hold unto the unit... Long story short, thanks for the battery," Ray smiled, while Ramses' face went blank.

The Nobel's red glow started to fade. The Amatsu then throws the Nobel like a rag doll. The Nobel crashes on a nearby rock formation then it tried to get up, but from the sustained damage from both legs proved to be a problem for it to stand.

"Let's finish this, Amatsu!" Ray roared once again, maxing out everything on the Amatsu.

 _:On the second floor:_

"This battle's over," Joseph stood up and turned to Caster, "You joining?"

"I'll be there shortly, I'm just finishing this pattie," Caster replied.

"Aight then,I'll be joinin' Ray downstairs, and maybe find myself a match too," Joseph proceeded to go downstairs.

 _:meanwhile:_

The Amatsu danced and darted around the Nobel like a predator toying with it's prey. The Nobel struggled to defend itself from the relentless attacks. The Amatsu pauses for a second before it's finishing attack. It's legs stretched, it's body lowered, the damaged right arm loosely hangs while it's left hand is posed ready for a grab and it's Claw/Wing extended outward as if mimicking it's left arm.

"This'll finish it," Ray whispered, "Witness my Skeletal Frame Amatsu!"

The Amatsu darted towards the Nobel in a blinding speed, it's left arm and Claw/Wing outstretched.

 **CLASH**

The Nobel was dragged for a few meters before it finally gets sliced in half as the Amatsu darted through it with it's Claw/Wing lariat.

"And that's how it's done!" Ray shouted.

 **Battle Ended**

The crowd surrounding the projector where Ray and Ramses fought cheered wildly. Ramses hurriedly went to where Ray is and shook his hand.

"Damn son! You're top tier! Are you sure this is your first battle?"

"No, well against another person, it's my first time! I wasn't expecting a win but I'll take anything!" Ray gleefully replied as he savored his sudden fame.

"Oh, his first time as a win? I would like to battle this person!" A voice behind the crowd shouted. the crowd and Ray went silent and looked towards where they heard the voice. The crowd then began to part and cheer again as Ray stared in awe to who was going to challenge him.

"Would you honor me with a gunpla battle?" The Meijin asked Ray as he stood in front of him.

"With pleasure!" Ray replied with fire in his eyes and excitement.


	4. Triple A

**Phase 4: Triple A**

Meijin reached out to the projector and picked up the Amatsu and held it up as if praising it's craftsmanship.

"Well this wouldn't be a fair fight if I don't give you time to fix your gunpla even if the damage level was set to C," Meijin handed the Amatsu to Ray, "I'll give you 5 minutes, the we'll start our match."

"You're on it!" Ray exclaimed, pumped up.

"And I guess you have something you can use to clean those scratches?" Ray turned to where the shout came from and spotted Joseph walking towards him carrying a mini case through the crowd.

"Actually I don't, haha."

"Well you're in luck," Joseph stepped in the stage and took out a brand new Amatsu from the mini case and handed it to Ray.

"Woah, where'd you get this?!" Ray exclaimed as he took the Amatsu.

"Caster had a contingency plan, well it was me who asked him to make a duplicate of your Amatsu, if ever you bust it," Joseph took the slightly worn out Amatsu and placed it in the mini case, "and besides, we can't give your original one a fast coat in 5 minutes."

"Point taken."

"But where are my manners," Joseph stretched out his hand to Meijin, "It's an honor meeting you Meijin Kawaguchi the 3rd."

"And to you to," Meijin shook his hand firmly.

"Joseph Espiritu."

"And to you too Joseph!" Meijin turned back to Ray, "well, are you ready?"

"You bet I am!" Ray exclaimed and dashed back his place in the projector. Joseph smiled and went back to the crowd but was stopped when the Meijin called him again.

"You look formidable as a pilot, why don't you join Ray in fighting me?"

"I think that would be a bad idea since Ray is already pumped for a 1v1 m-"

"No get in here and fight with me! I've tried the simulations but out of 24 tries I only won once! I need back-up against the real GOD here!" Ray exclaimed cutting off Joseph from further decision making.

"As he said," Meijin grinned and turned back to Joseph, "besides, I want to push myself quite farther this time, the two of you might just do the trick."

"Well," Joseph thought to himself every possible outcome out of pressure from talking with Meijin, "no time to pass this opportunity."

Joseph stepped back in the stage and stood beside Ray as the crowd cheered.

"This is frighteningly exciting," Joseph whispered.

"I know right! We're going up against a GOD! And it's just my second match in my whole life!"

"Same, oh man, if only Caster was here."

"Well are you ready?" Meijin exclaimed.

"You bet we are!" Ray exclaimed and Joseph nodded.

"Let our Gunplas burn with passion!"

The projector lit up and the crowd went wild.

 **Gunpla Battle Combat mode! Start-up! Model damage set to B**

"B?!" Ray whispered.

"It ain't no match against a god without any gamble," Joseph smirked.

 **Please set your GP Base**

The three took out their GP bases and placed it on the slot on the projector.

 **Please set you Gunpla**

The three contenders placed their gunplas on the base. A lot of thoughts and emotions are going through both Ray and Joseph.

"Alright, stay cool Joseph, stay cool," Joseph whispered to himself.

"I'll be relying on your call outs," Ray gestured two thumbs up to Joseph.

"Then I'll be relying on your execution," Joseph replied with a grin and a thumbs up.

 **Field 01: Space**

"A busted up Colony," Jospeh whispered again.

The projector glowed fiercely with random lightning strikes.

"Thunderbolt Sector," Ray added.

 **Battle Start!**

"Ray Ignacio, Skeletal Frame Amatsu! COMMENCING LAUNCH!"

"Joseph Espiritu, Ardent Gundam. Engaging!"

"Mejin Kawaguchi, Amazing Red Warrior! Burn passionately!"

The crowd went wild as the three exclaimed simultaneously as their gunplas boosted out to the field.

Joseph checked his set up and configured some settings while Ray stayed in front of him scanning the area for possible attacks.

"I'm all set, how 'bout you, anything out of the ordinary from the new Amatsu?"

"None, feels lighter actually," Ray maneuvered the Amatsu indiscriminately, "Well, we're talking about the craftsmanship of Caster."

A warning prompt cut off their conversation and startled them.

"Where is it?!" Ray exclaimed.

"Above!" Joseph exclaimed as a pink beam sped towards them.

The Amatsu dodged the beam, the shot almost grazed it but it broke the close gap between the Amatsu and the Ardent. An audible _shit!_ was heard from Ray.

"I'll scatter the funnels," Joseph clicked the orb and chose a setting. The C-Funnels from the Ardent scattered around their duo.

"Time to show me what you've got! Come!" A flash of lightning behind the Amazing Red Warrior revealed it standing on a huge colony debris with it's signature pose.

"Meijin!" Ray shouted, the Amatsu boosted towards the ARW.

"I'll follow up," Joseph maneuvered the Ardent to keep up behind with the Amatsu and Scattered C-Funnels around their path.

the ARW floated and kicked the debris towards Amatsu as it closed in.

"Oh no you don't!" The Amatsu crashed it's Claw/Wings to the debris destroying it and continued it's pursuit to the ARW.

"Careful now, you're suit may have VPS but it always has it's limits," Joseph warned Ray.

"Aye, sorry," and at that moment that Ray lost focus for a second, the ARW used a debris as a launchpad to shoot itself back to the Amatsu.

"Look out!" In that split second, Joseph managed to form his C-Funnels to shield the Amatsu from the ARW's assault.

"Shit that was close!"

"I'll create an opening, you strike the ARW with your crushers!"

In an instantaneous burst, the C-funnels scattered, breaking off the shield and the ARW's balance, creating a wide opening for the Amatsu to strike.

"You're wide open!" The claw/wings propped forward, ready to snap the ARW's silhoutte.

 **CRUNCH**

 **CRASH!**

and in that split second, the Amatsu crushed a debris, while the ARW landed a crushing kick to the left arm of the Ardent.

"Wh-" Ray was stunned, "What?"

"Shit," Joseph uttered in silence, The ARW kicked the Ardent towards the colony while using it as a launchpad speeding towards the Amatsu.

"Ray! Behind You!" but Joseph was too late, the Ardent crashes towards the destroyed colony, while the ARW already closed the distance between the Amatsu and the itself. A warning prompt flashed before Joseph informing him that the Ardent's right arm has taken a considerable amount of damage.

"Sword bits!" The Ardent struggled to get up but managed to deploy it's sword bits on pursuit to the ARW.

The ARW readied it's gunblade ready to cut the Amatsu in half, "I feel your passion!" The Meijin exclaimed.

Ray flipped the Blitz System on, using the debris as platform and sped towards the ARW, "COME AT ME!" Ray roared.

 **CLASH!**

The two suits locked each other, ARW's sword clashed with the Amatsu's Blade shield.

"You know what's unique with my build?" Ray asked Meijin.

"Enlighten me!"

The left claw/wing propped outwards the left side of the Amatsu.

"This shield isn't just for defense, it's also for opening up other's defense!" and at that moment, the Amatsu's Blade shield unbolted itself and broke into two halves, breaking the ARW's balance leaving a chance to strike again.

The Amatsu transitioned to ready a right hook, "Just like what happened a while ago, but now I'M CERTAIN IT ISN'T A DEBRIS!"

"I'll at least damage you with my lariat!"

"Wonderful burning passion Ray!" Meijin exclaimed.

 **CRASH!**

The ARW managed to block the swing with it's shield but sustained damage from the force.

"This ain't finished yet!" Ray doubled the suit's power and forced the ARW to break away and run off, shortly after, the swordbits followed to where the ARW went, the Amatsu followed too.

"Your suit's almost depleted from that, turn off your blitz system," Joseph ordered Ray as the Ardent went back to the fight.

"No, I'll follow him and deplete his energy! That's how my simulations we-"

"He's the real deal, this is no simulation, he probably noticed that already, that's why he let you shove him away from us, conserve your energy, I have a plan."

: _on the second floor_ :

"Damn, are they really thrashing the Meijin? Those two are quite the fighter aren't they?"

"I don't bet on it," Caster interjected to a random chatter, "Meijin's just assessing their potential, making it look like they did damage but in reality, they haven't. Meijin's ARW's energy output is still far from being depleted unlike the Skeletal Frame Amatsu."

"Wai-, who are you?"

"Their senior builder, I know the strengths and weaknesses of their builds, Caster, Caster Cheng," Caster introduced himself to the person.

"Whoa, way to cheer on your friends-"

"Cousins."

"Okay, that way worse, anyway I'm Gil, PPSE engineer," Gil stretched out his hand, Caster took it and made a firm handshake.

"ARW is a superb machine, I doubt my cousins' builds can hold it off for at least 5 minutes."

"The Meijin's enjoying this, he'll probably give them some hits or a few," Gil joked.

"But that's all they can afford," Caster said with clear frustration.

"Let me guess," Gil leaned back and placed his hands on the back of his head and closed his eyes, "you need to jump in there and help them."

"Not really," Caster replied still lost in thought, "I know from the start, even if I jumped in and fought with them, we're gonna lose."

and short silence fell upon them.

"But I didn't realize that they're actually doing some dents that's pushing the ARW, I could've gathered raw data to duplicate the ARW's stats and further it-"

"I have a proposition," Gil cut off Caster, "I'll get you in there mid fight."

: _at the same time_ :

"Head towards the busted colony, we'll set up a trap while my sword bits keep him in check," Joseph ordered Ray while nearing the busted colony.

"Conserve your energy, turn it off for now, I'll signal when you can go berserker on him," the Ardent scattered it's C-Funnels and hid it all over the colony, "by my calculations, we might get a jump on him with th-"

Joseph was cut off when a warning prompt that one of his sword bits have been destroyed already.

"So I'm just supposed to stay here?"

"Yes, and I need you to stay alert for my signal, I'll lure him in now, and hopefully work this plan successfully, let's give him at least a dent, got it?"

"You got it!" Ray exclaimed with a thumb up, "turning off active system, happy hunting."

"Roger, be back in aw-" two warning prompts cut Joseph off, "shit, time's almost up."

The Ardent sped away from the colony and to where it's sword bits was tracking the ARW. Moments later, the ARW silhouette can be seen being chased around by three sword bits. The Ardent retrieved the sword bits following the ARW.

"You finally showed up, where's the Amatsu?" The ARW stopped abruptly and turned itself towards the Ardent.

"I'll be taking over for now since the Amatsu's decommissioned out of energy," Joseph at that moment lied and prayed that the Meijin won't see through it till he needs it to. Thinking to himself _shit, will that lie even hold?_ He boosted the Ardent towards the ARW to attack it.

"I'll be your opponent for now until my funnels refuel the Amatsu," Joseph lied for the second time, "Trans-FX!" The Ardent glowed bright pink alternating to bolts of blue "Bits!"

The remaining sword bits danced around the Ardent.

 **CLASH**

The two suits deflected each other's attacks and continued to the dogfight, but Joseph had something else in mind.

 _The Meijin probably saw through it by now, time to lure him in._

The Ardent clashed against the ARW and pushed it off by a few feet and boosted away quickly from it, returning to the destroyed colony.

"I won't let you get off that easi-hngh!" the ARW tried to pursue the Ardent but was blocked by the sword bits circling the ARW.

"I've got no time for these minor inconveniences!" the ARW took out it's gunblade and shot the remaining sword bits with precision, maintaining it's course to pursue the Ardent.

 _Shit, here he comes,_ Joseph thought to himself, He then doubled the Ardent's speed and quantized to widen the gap between the Ardent and the ARW. Moments later, the Ardent arrives to the colony.

"Ray ge-" Josepg was cut off when the ARW sped past the Ardent.

"You're Sword bits were quite the trouble, but it had me thinking since this area is strictly riddled with electromagnetic anomalies, not even newtypes nor Innovators can control funnels in this area," the ARW floated in front of a few meters of the Ardent, "which means-"

"Preprogrammed," Joseph whispered an audible _tsk._

"pretty clever Joseph, but that won't stop me," the Meijin sounded excited. Joseph turned on his comms line to Ray.

"Ray get ready, when I say now, you rage on him."

"Gotcha, ready to go," Ray replied as Joseph turned the comms line off as soon as he heard the reply and continued to stall Meijin.

"A small price to pay to win this small bout," Joseph smirked, Meijin raised his left eyebrow in confusion.

"Show me," Mejin smiled.

"Then I'll show you!" The Ardent flew to the ARW with blinding speed and clashed swords.

"I had it going through my mind, your Ardent felt like something's missing from it when you attacked me earlier," Meijin exclaimed.

"Yeah, what is it?" Joseph felt nervous.

"Your remaining funnels, the ones I shot down were sword bits, so where are your C-Funnels?!" the ARW doubled it's energy and over powered the Ardent, throwing the Ardent sideways to the debris, causing a cloud of dust to form and making it hard for the ARW to visually track the Ardent.

"That's where you're correct," the Ardent's eyes glowed, piercing through the cloud of dust, accompanied by 6 other green lights, "Funnels!"

The C-Funnels pierced through the dust and sped towards the ARW, the ARW dodged few of the funnels and turned tail and sped through the colony's destroyed city complex turning indiscriminately to confuse the funnels.

"You're not getting away!" The Ardent quantized right before the ARW, clashing swords again, a loud grunt from the Meijin was heard, an indication for Joseph that he made quite a challenge for the Meijin.

The funnels drew closer to the ARW's back, but the ARW boosted upwards and broke away from the Ardent, but the Ardent's right arm grabbed hold of the ARW's leg preventing it from escaping.

"Like I said, I am not letting you get away!" Joseph exclaimed.

the ARW doubled it's output once again and dragged the Ardent upwards almost ripping out the Ardent's right arm.

 **CRASH**

The funnels went through the Ardent's right arm and sliced it off from the main body. An audible _shit!_ was heard from Joseph as the ARW got away once again. The funnels redirected it's trajectory and went after the ARW again, but as the ARW is occupied by the remaining funnels, Joseph retrieved a few funnels and coded another set of instructions for it to follow.

the Ardent resumed it's pursuit for the ARW as Joseph finished coding, but as he finished it the ARW already took down some funnels in the process, leaving the Ardent with 9 funnels.

"Ray we got to make this count," Joseph opened the comms line again, "are you ready?"

"I'M ITCHING!" Ray exclaimed.

"As soon as he passes over your debris, I'll be deploying the dummies, wait for my signal." the Ardent pursued the ARW with the remaining 3 funnels on the ARW's tail.

"You're going down Meijin!"

"I doubt that!" the ARW propped up it's legs and crashed on the colony's walls, using it as a platform to boost itself back up to intercept the Ardent.

 **CLASH!**

"Ray, now!" The Amatsu busted out of a debris and went full speed towards the ARW, simultaneously the scattered C-Funnels around the ARW and Ardent rushed towards the ARW and deployed balloon dummies of Amatsu, throwing the ARW's visual in disarray.

"You have no place to escape Meijin! BLITZ SYSTEM!" the Amatsu glowed fiercely, revealing it's location above the ARW from the dummies.

"That's where you're all wrong!" Meijin became serious all of a sudden. The ARW's eyes glowed fiercely.

"I won't let you escape Meijin! Trans-FX burst!" The Ardent glowed brightly and doubled it's output to keep the ARW in place.

 **CRASH!**

The ARW managed to grab hold of Amatsu from it's assault, "you miscalculated this part!" Meijin exclaimed, the ARW dragged the Amatsu and smashed it to the Ardent, throwing both of the suits out of balance and sent both of it crashing towards the colony's walls.

Subsequently the ARW sliced the dummies and dodged a flurry of C-Funnels that unfortunately sliced the Amatsu's left claw/wing as it boosted back towards the ARW. The Amatsu grabbed it's spear from it's back and continued it's assault. The ARW boosts away from the Amatsu, while deflecting it's attacks and oncoming funnels.

"I'm not letting you get away," the Ardent quantized behind the ARW and striked, the ARW managed to block the Ardent's Katar with it's gunblade.

"You're mine!" Ray exclaimed, the Amatsu darted behind the ARW with it's spear simultaneously the funnels clustered below, speeding towards the ARW ready to rip it to shreds.

"Wonderful! This is the thrill I seek!" Meijin exclaimed.

The projector glowed blindingly, a lightning flashed in the Thunderbolt sector at that exact moment of fate, the battle was turned to the favor of Meijin.

The ARW broke off the lock with the Ardent by abandoning it's gunblade, outbalancing the Ardent and using it as a platform to get to the Amatsu. With it's high thruster output, it sped past the Amatsu and kicked it towards the C-Funnels and finishing it off with beam gatling, devastating both the Amatsu and the funnels.

The Ardent and the Amatsu crashes to the walls of the colony as the Amazing Red Warrior floated in place, almost unscathed.

"Ray!" Joseph exclaimed, the Ardent returned to it's normal state, struggling to break away from the debris. Joseph's projected cockpit lighting from blue transitioned to yellow.

"I hear ya," Ray responded, "My cockpit's light is red now haha, but I think I can still move the Amatsu." The Amatsu bursted out of a nearby debris.

"Still got some juice left in you eh?" Meijin asked.

"You bet," Ray answered, "my Amatsu will never go out without a fight!"

"Splendid fighting spirit!" Meijin exclaimed.

"Count me on that too," Joseph butted in.

"Well then, this will be the last showdown, I'm looking forward to it!" The ARW's eyes glowed fiercely.

"You're on!" The Skeletal Frame Amatsu glowed once again with it's Blitz System, grabbing it's severed Claw/Wing.

"I feel tired and fulfilled, one last strike, Ardent, one last strike against the Meijin," Joseph whispered, the Ardent Gundam glowed brightly with it's Trans-FX burst on.

The two suits boosted toward the ARW, readying their final strike.

The Amatsu darted faster than the Ardent, unfortunately it's Blitz System and VPS armor drained it too much leaving it unprotected. The Amatsu readied an over head strike with it's destroyed claw/wing.

 **CRASH**

the claw/wing got sliced in half together with the Amatsu by the ARW's beam saber, subsequently, the Ardent quantized right behind the Amatsu after it got sliced.

The Ardent managed to land a strike to the right shoulder, destroying the shoulder thrusters of the ARW, an audible _yes!_ was heard from Joseph, but the ARW rotated it's hand and sliced the Ardent's left arm and damaging it's head.

"Shit! Not yet!" the Ardent quantized away from the ARW and gathered it's remaining 3 funnels.

"That reminds me," Meijin paused, "I remember both of you saying - if Caster was here - who is this person?"

"Our senior builder, the person who dragged us into this gunpla mess," Joseph laughed, "Our very own -"

"Crimson Shooting Star!" Ray shouted as a warning prompt flashed over their screens.

 **CRASH!**

A thunder and flash from a nearby lightning blinded everyone for a second.

"Sorry Meijin, I just had to push your ARW quite a bit more," A mysterious voice from outside the projector interjected.

Meijin got caught off guard by the voice, but there was something familiar about it. He quickly regained his composure and grinned as he realized whose voice is it.

"You better make this worth it Gil," Meijin grinned.

Visibly confused and dazed from the lightning strike, Ray and Joseph squinted their eyes to get a clearer picture on what's happening, and to their surprise, a silhouette of a Strike Gundam was before them.

"Is that-"

"A straight built Strike, which means," the strong light from the lightning faded and revealed a straight built Strike Gundam with a Gunbarrel striker backpack.

"Caster!" Shouted both Ray and Joseph.

"Man you're late as heck," Joseph sighed.

"Welp, time to gather data," Caster stretched his arms and booted up the data gathering OS, subsequently giving the Strike a Holoscreen, similar to the Cherudim Gundam, "And hopefully I can last at least 3 to 5 minutes, Joseph, back me up."

"My Ardent's all busted up, I can only provide funnel support."

"Roger, that's plenty helpful already" Caster replied while adjusting the Strike.

"I look forward to battling with you, Caster!" Meijin exclaimed, readying the ARW.

"And to you too, Meijin!" Caster exclaimed as the Strike boosted toward the Amazing Red Warrior.

"Now show you burning passion Caster!"


End file.
